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Odisha CM appeals to Centre to extend cut-off date for PMFBY

Bhubaneswar

1 Aug 2017

The Odisha government today urged the Centre to extend the cut-off date for registration of farmers under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) till August 16.
"I would like to impress upon you to kindly issue suitable directives for extension of the cut-off date for registration of farmers till 16th August, 2017 so as to safeguard the interest of the farmers of the state of Odisha," chief minister Naveen Patnaik wrote to Union agriculture and farmers welfare minister Radha Mohan Singh. Noting that Odisha with long coast line is prone to various natural calamities like drought and flood, Patnaik said the state government had spread publicity campaign to mobilise the farmers to include them under PMFBY.
The chief minister said keeping in view the instructions of the Government of India for covering at least 40 per cent of the farming population under PMFBY, the state government had made elaborate plans for covering 25 lakh farmers and 20 lakh hectares area under the programme to provide a safety net to the farmers. Patnaik said when the registration of the farmers had picked up momentum, the entire system got upset due to snags in the Central Crop Insurance portal. The linking of common service centre portal to crop insurance portal had failed, thereby increasing the load on the banks.
At this crucial juncture, Patnaik said the facilities of directly uploading of date by the banks as well as the offline utility also did not work. As a result, the farmers were compelled to run from pillar to post for registering under the programme. At certain places even law and order problem arose due to the complete failure of the system of registration, he said.